Government

The July Planning and Zoning meeting, held at a special time on July 10, began with a roll call. Chairman Ken Birk, Mayor Rich West and Alderman Don Hendrich were present. Due to a lack of quorum, it was decided to rearrange the meeting to begin with open forum and open discussion of old and new business, but not of anything that would require a vote. Discussion revolved around the Quarry Wine Garden sign.

At 6:35, a quorum was met with the arrival of Commissioner Rich Ropp. The final commission member arrived at 6:51.

The meeting’s agenda and June 5 minutes were approved with a 4-0-0 vote.

In open forum, Birk indicated the Commission was looking for two new members for the planning and zoning board.

Old Business began with discussion of the comprehensive plan. City Clerk Karen Hotfelder distributed information from Todd Streiler. The commission expressed that they hoped Streiler would be able to attend an upcoming New Melle Chamber of Commerce meeting to discuss the proposed updates. Hotfelder indicated she would verify the dates, but the commission hoped this would occur at the August meeting.

Next, was an update on the Quarry Wine Garden Sign and Boundary Adjustment. Kurt Cutter of Cochran Engineering, the city engineers, said the sign has been reviewed and will meet the city’s requirements. Cutter was not able to give a full analysis of the Wine Garden’s boundary adjustment plans as they were only dropped off the afternoon of the meeting. He indicated it was given to the survey director, and would be formally reviewed soon.

The permits for the Dollar General have been issued and the company is able to begin to build. Cutter brought a copy of the plans for the project, so they can be available for viewing at City Hall. Cochran let them know approximately two weeks ago that their plans were approved. Hotfelder indicated she received their build permit fees in a timely manner.

The boundary adjustment on Windy Meadow Court was approved, per Cutter, and the owners will be receiving a court approved document. Hotfelder indicated they picked up their permit yesterday.

In regards to 96 St Charles Street, Cutter said Cochran Engineering received a call from St. Charles Engineering asking what the city would require for the owners to remove the current dwelling and replace it with a new home. The information was provided, and Cutter said the owner’s next step would be making a formal site plan submittal to the city.

Next was new business that focused on differentiating between R-1C and R-1D zoning designations. Birk said a man came to the city wanting to divide an existing, but foreclosed on lot, into two lots, and with two houses instead of one. Upon review, the city realized the zoning for the lot in question was correct on older maps, but not on newer maps, with conflicting R-1C and R-1D designations. Hotfelder said this conflict occurred when the historic preservation area was repealed. The lot in question had an addendum “see exhibit A.” However, that document does not exist. The commission indicated they will now need to go back through, lot by lot, to determine which lots should have which designation. Mayor West said they would pull the old zoning maps, from before this historic section was established and then repealed, to reference the original zoning designations. Cutter said this reference would be the 2012 map, which is what Cochran Engineering intends to use. Hotfelder expressed concerns that the lots were not correctly labeled, based on size, in 2012, something Cutter said would be looked into.

West clarified that, in the interim since the initial request was made, someone else put a contract on the lot, and they did not indicate they wanted to split the lot.

In regards to the sign permit for the Quarry Wine Garden, Birk said he was concerned the current ordinances do not fully address the monument style sign the company wants to build. However, the actual sign portion does fit in the 32 square foot sign ordinance requirements. Discussion further clarified that the gates and accompanying monument pieces are not currently addressed in ordinance, something that would need to be addressed in a future meeting. Since the plans were reviewed, and passed by both Cochran Engineering and the city building inspector, the sign was approved with a 5-0-0 vote. (Birk said Wentzville has a disclaimer in their sign section that addresses architectural improvements, which are not counted against the area of the sign, something he hopes to emulate in future review of the sign ordinance).

P and Z members then reviewed the Building Inspection Report and Birk said it looked like several items had been addressed. Hotfelder said two of the items were the antenna updates, and those permits had been obtained and paid for and work was in progress, and The New Melle Lakes Park updates. The park updates are progressing, and all demolitions are currently complete.

The Road Committee Report addressed reported concerns of a tree overhanging Foristell Road. It was determined that since it is on a property that is not part of New Melle, the issue cannot be addressed by the city, that it is instead a St. Charles County Code Enforcement concern.

Hotfelder said the city had issued a demolition permit for the house that burned on Highway F earlier in July.

A motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved at 7:02. The next P&Z meeting will be August 7.